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Herring Island
|slots = 5 |connectedresources = |bonusresources = }} The Kingdom of Herring Island (KHI), commonly referred to as the Herring Island, is a unitary monarchy whose territory comprises the northern portion of the Kermadic Islands. Herring Island has a total area of 2,785 square miles and a population of 72,000 people (2015). The country shares a long southern border with New Zealand (31 miles long). Herring Island has an extensive coastline, with all sides but its southern border facing the south Pacific Ocean near the cultural territories of Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. History In the winter of 2013, Logan Herring, a United States citizen had begin heavily investing into startups with a business partner and had accumulated large amounts of wealth. Having established public interest in purchasing a private island for vacation use, the nation of New Zealand contacted Herring in the early summer of 2014. With large budgetary concerns and high public debt levels, the nation made an offer to sell off its own land. With a $13 million purchase, Herring purchased a minority of the northern peninsula of The North Island. Once purchased the New Zealand government offered to pay for mandatory housing relocations for citizens. Herring refused the offer and allowed for all the citizens to stay under the condition that they could form their own sovereign nation. New Zealand, being allowed to make budgetary cuts in housing relocation agreed, although the international community was slow to respond. Technically a sovereign nation since its declared independence on May 25, 2014, the United Nations did not recognizes Herring Island's statehood until a year later. Initially to draw in a sustainable population, Herring Island offered large tax shelters for business venturers and has since focused on improved infrastructure and accessibility to technology. Herring Island's most recent purchase of land from New Zealand occurred on December 4th, extending the southern border more than 200 miles. With about 3,000 miles of land, Herring Island has grown to a larger size than over half the world's nations and has amassed over 3% of New Zealand's former land. Geography Herring Island resides on the northern portion of the Kermadic Islands, previously The North Island of New Zealand. Since the nation's birth in 2014, the political borders have been slowly moving south purchasing more territory from New Zealand. While the Capital, McGillan is a larger than average city within Herring Island, it only ranks fourth by population. 1. Coolidge (Pop. 23,148) 2. Talith (Pop. 18,476) 3. Neelstone (Pop. 12,839) 4. McGillan (Pop. 7,445) 5. Winterthrop (Pop. 2,148) The largest and most populated city, Coolidge was the first purchased land by King Herring and was the first established Capital of the nation. With the nations only harbor and the primary location of the nation's stock market, Coolidge is known for its heavy involvement in trade and investment which economists project will allow it to remain the most populated and economically strongest city in the foreseeable future. Herring Island has a largely temperate climate with subtropical weather during summer. Most of the country lies close to the coast, which means mild temperatures, moderate rainfall, and abundant sunshine. Economy With just under 60,000 citizens working in the island's market, the average annual income as of December of 2015 is $160,000. Herring Island has an annual GDP of just under $10 billion. The Herring Island economy was primarily built on the exports of Water and Aluminum, but has established many international trade agreements that heavily subsidize the high economic growth rates that Herring Island has enjoyed since its established sovereignty. Heavily involved in technology trading and aiding developing countries, Herring Island is the highest ranked member of its alliance, Commonwealth of Nations in charity. Although its economy has seen staggering growth since independence, the tax rate has been set at a high rate of 30% for a majority of the nation's history, hindering the disposable income levels of its citizens. Politics Herring Island is a unitary monarchy with business investor, King Herring, as the supreme ruler of the nation since its inception. King Herring, although having no constitutional limits to power, has established a long tradition of publishing government information and protecting civil liberties, a form of government he dubbed "Transparent Monarchy". An example of Transparent Monarchy is the monthly budget written out and reported by King Herring, that includes exactly what he plans on doing with taxpayer money, to insure that it is all used on improvements for the nation's economy or defense. Foreign Affairs King Herring has established a non-interventionist policy within the Department of Defense, promising to never be involved in wars unless attacked first. Throughout most of the history of Herring Island, the nation has been an established member of the Christian Coalition of Countries although on September 13, 2015, broke off from the alliance when leadership change and broken trade agreements caused frustration between alliance members. Within the same day, King Herring established a new alliance named the United Free Trade Alliance (UFTA), which was slowly grown to 15 members until merged with the Commonwealth of Nations, keeping the latter's name but establishing King Herring as one of the three members of the alliance's Security Council. By December of 2015, the alliance had reached 25 members. The Commonwealth of Nations was rebranded Clearwater after a political falling-out within the alliance leadership. Now with a member count of 10 nations, Clearwater is presided by King Herring.